KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban government’s higher education minister on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities — a decree that has sparked a worldwide outcry.
Discussing the issue publicly for the first time, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week was necessary to prevent gender mixing in universities and because he believed some subjects taught violated the principles of Islam. He said the ban is in place until further notice.
In an interview with Afghan television, Nadim rejected widespread international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Nadim said foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
On Thursday, foreign ministers of the G-7 group of nations urged the Taliban to lift the ban, warning that “gender-based persecution can constitute a crime against humanity.” The ministers warned after a virtual meeting that “the Taliban’s policies to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries interact with the Taliban.” The G-7 group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
A former provincial governor, police chief and military commander, Nadim was appointed minister in October by the Taliban’s supreme leader and had previously promised to eliminate secular schools. Nadim opposes girls’ education, saying it goes against Islamic and Afghan values.
Other reasons he cited for banning the university were women not following a dress code and studying certain subjects and courses.
“I told the girls to wear a proper hijab, but they didn’t and they were wearing dresses as if they were going to a wedding ceremony,” she said. “Girls were studying agriculture and engineering, but that didn’t fit into Afghan culture. Girls should study, but not in fields that go against Islam and Afghan honor.”
She added that work is being done to resolve these issues and that universities will reopen to women once they are resolved. The Taliban have made similar promises about girls’ access to high school, saying classes will resume for them once “technical issues” with uniforms and transportation are resolved, but girls remain out of classrooms.
The Taliban have been trying to fix what they say are problems they inherited from the previous administration since taking over last year. He argued that people were not following the rules and that this warranted the university’s ban.
In Afghanistan, there was some domestic opposition to the university ban, including from several cricketers. Cricket is an extremely popular sport in the country and the players have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Another show of support for female students came at Nangarhar Medical University. Local media reported that male students walked out in solidarity and refused to take exams until women were restored access to the university.
Despite initially promising a more moderate rule that would respect the rights of women and minorities, the Taliban have largely implemented their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, since taking power in August 2021.
They banned girls from middle and high school, banned women from most labor camps, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms. At the same time, Afghan society, while largely traditional, has increasingly embraced the education of girls and women over the past two decades.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters in Washington on Thursday, echoed international opposition to the Taliban’s decision to ban women from university education. He said the Taliban would not achieve much-needed improvements in relations with the world if they “continued on this path”.
“What they have done is try to condemn Afghan women and girls to a dark future without opportunities,” she said. “And the bottom line is that no country will be able to succeed, let alone prosper, if it denies half the population the opportunity to contribute. And to be clear, and we are engaged with other countries on this right now. There will be a cost.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that the ban was “neither Islamic nor humane.” Speaking at a joint press conference with his Yemeni counterpart, he called on the Taliban to reverse their decision.
“What’s wrong with educating women? What harm is it doing to Afghanistan? Cavusoglu said. “Is there an Islamic explanation? On the contrary, our religion, Islam, is not against education, on the contrary, it encourages education and science”.
Saudi Arabia, which until 2019 imposed severe restrictions on travel, work and other crucial aspects of women’s daily lives, including driving, has also urged the Taliban to change course.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed its “astonishment and regret” that Afghan women were denied university education. In a statement late on Wednesday, the ministry said the decision was “amazing in all Islamic countries”.
Earlier, Qatar, which has engaged with the Taliban authorities, also condemned the decision.
In the capital Kabul, about two dozen women marched through the streets on Thursday, chanting for freedom and equality. “All or nothing. Don’t be afraid. We’re in this together,” they sang.
In a video obtained by The Associated Press, a woman said Taliban security forces used violence to disperse the group.
“The girls were beaten and whipped,” she said. “They also took military women with them, flogging the girls. I ran away, some girls were arrested. I do not know what’s going to happen.”
Girls have been banned from school after the sixth grade since the return of the Taliban.
Teenage girls in the northeastern province of Takhar said Thursday that the Taliban forced them out of a private education center and told them they no longer had the right to study. One student, Zuhal, 15, said the girls were beaten.
Another young woman, Maryam, 19, said as she cried, “This training center was our hope. What can these girls do? They were full of hope and came here to learn. It’s really a shame. (The Taliban) took away all our hopes. They closed schools, universities and the training center, which was very small.”
Associated Press contributors Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and Matthew Lee in Washington.
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